The Zutara Music Meme
by Lily Dragon
Summary: 10 random songs, 10 drabbles - This is the result of a challenge, the rules are inside. Zutara, zutara and more zutara... R


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**N/A: Hi there… This is not only my first Avatar story that I publish, but also my first fic in English ever. I'm not asking you to go easy on me, quite the contrary: criticism (if constructive) is always welcome. **

**Anyway, I was looking for some Sokkla stories when I found ****Last Butterfly**'**s "Music Meme", which inspired me to do one more Zutara-related… The instructions were the following:**

**1) Choose a character or pairing you like!**

**2) Get your winamp/ itunes/ whatever program you use to listen to music working with a shuffle mode with all your songs.**

**3) Get ready to write the first thing that pumps in your head as soon as a song starts!**

**4) Write the drabble as long as that song is played, not longer. (ok, I cheated a bit on this one, pausing the song when I couldn't finish it on time… But whatever)**

**5) Write ten of these and then you're finished. (Do this with other pairings if you'd like...)**

**And well, here they are. Different kinds of music, different kinds of moods… Oh, and before I forget:**

**Disclaimer: I'm just a workaholic, stressed IB student from an underdeveloped country… Does it really LOOK like I own Avatar?!**

_**The Zutara Music Meme**_

1- Dreamweaver – Stratovarius

Staring at the richly painted ceiling, Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation lay in bed in the late hours of night, thinking.

He had everything he had ever wanted… His birthright, his throne, his damn honor…

So why did he feel so empty?

His supposedly perfect days were filled with protocol and formalities, servants catering to his every which, good clothes, his father's approval and a new girlfriend…

He should feel satisfaction, pride, or even fear that Azula's lie might have been discovered…

But he felt nothing. He woke up and went to bed with the same apathy, pushing every feeling away…

Only, in his dreams, he couldn't escape the betrayal he saw on those bright blue eyes.

2- Garotos – Cazuza and Leoni **(A/N: This is a Brazilian song: The title is "boys", and the music is mainly about how, when they are near girls, some boys just don't know how to act…) **

"_Don't tell anyone…"_ those were her last words before scurrying out of his room, her hair still messy and the sash of her dress still untied.

He wanted to hold her hand and stop her from going, he wanted to scream for everyone to hear that he loved her and couldn't stand all those secrets anymore, that she had to tell her brother some time… But he only sighed, and got up from his bed to retrieve his pants, that were discarded on the ground.

This situation had been going on for weeks now – she'd come to him at night, reveal to him the deepest secrets of her body and mind, and he would surrender to her completely…

But in the morning, she'd treat him as if nothing had happened. In front of the whole group she was still the stubborn Katara who didn't trust him, the correct and unforgiving waterbender…

Zuko knew that he didn't have to put up with this – he could simply come closer than normal from her and let Toph deduce the rest, of boldly kiss her in front of everyone: What could she do, then?

_She could reject me…_ - the thought alone made him shiver. And the mere thought of seeing her heart-broken by his rashness made him guilty.

He knew it was pathetic from his part to let her play with his emotions so freely, hurt him so deeply when he knew he couldn't hurt her even if he wanted to. He knew he was but a toy in her hands…

But he let her. And not because he thought he deserved to be punished… It was simply because he didn't know any better.

Even the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, when in love with a woman, was nothing but a helpless boy.

3- Hungry Like the Wolf – Duran Duran

In the middle of the night, trying her hardest to control her labored breathing, Katara sneaked through the forest, praying that her footsteps wouldn't betray her. Heavy clouds covered the moon and emerged the forest in an almost complete darkness – her soft footsteps muffled by the cries of the birds, she was almost invisible.

When she was about to stop to take a break, a figure dropped from the trees in her direction, pinning her to the ground.

"How… How did you find me?"

"I can smell you" even if she couldn't see a thing, she could almost hear the smirk in Zuko's voice.

4- When the Lights are Down – Kamelot

As a firebender, it was obvious that Zuko would always prefer daytime… But even Azula started to get worried when, a few weeks after returning to the Fire Capital, he started having problems with sleeping in the dark. At first, everyone dismissed it as an adaptation difficulty, but when he stopped sleeping at all, the nobles started to whisper. He would light candles in his room for the whole night and simply refuse to turn them down, he would refuse to enter a dark room or exit the palace when it was dark – he not only refused to sleep, but also avoided darkness at all costs.

It was almost unanimous that the Prince of the Fire Nation was losing it.

The reason for his madness was a mystery – when one dared to ask him why he loathed darkness, he would simply whisper:

"She comes to haunt me when the lights are down…"

5- Killing in the Name – Rage Against the Machine

Zuko stood in his Father's War Chambers while the Generals discussed battle plans – but this time, he vowed to remain completely silent.

His father said that his time in exile had changed him, and he was right – now the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation knew when to keep his mouth shut. He had everything he wanted, and he was not going to lose it because of his big mouth – he knew he wouldn't get a second chance this time. He had worked hard so that his life would be the way it was before, and he wasn't going to spoil it this time.

However, things would never be like they were before, because now, when the Nobles talked about conquering a village, Zuko saw the burned housed and wounded refugees that he encountered in his travels.

Whenever they talked about bringing the Fire Nation's way of life to the Earth Savages, he would remember the hate in that boy's face when he saw Zuko was a firebender…

And whenever they talked about the ruthless Water Tribe which did not hesitate to slaughter the Fire Nation, he would remember the sincerity in that girl's eyes when she offered, twice, to heal new and old wounds of her very enemies…

Indeed, his year in exile had changed him.

6- Three Black Crows – Blackmore's Night

At his time in the ship, Zuko had always hated Music Night – after all, what was the point of a bunch of drunken man singing and dancing together when they had an Avatar to catch?

At that time, he thought that Music Night was some crazy idea that only his Uncle had… However, when the boys found a bunch of old instruments in the Western Air Temple, the Avatar – no, his name is Aang, remember that – was the first to suggest that they had a Music Night to relax from all the tension.

_Of course_ Zuko said he wouldn't go. After all, if a bunch of men singing and dancing wasn't bad enough, what could be said about a bunch of _kids?!_

So he went to sleep earlier that night, even before they started playing, thinking that he could use some rest…

But who said that a banished prince could sleep while they were trying to play a Earth Kingdom ballad with a Water Tribe beat of drums, in with instruments made by the Airbenders?

Groaning, Zuko got up and was about to tell Aang that they would start meditating before sunrise the next morning when the sight before his eyes made him speechless.

Sokka had made a point of showing the others how a typical water tribe dance was, and was currently stomping his feet and drumming a strangely hypnotic rhythm, while Aang played a simple, clear melody in a flute…

And Katara danced.

It was not that he hadn't seen dancing before – he'd even had lessons for years! – and it was not that Water Tribe dances were that special, either – it involved too much stomping and sharp movements to his liking, actually.

It was just that he had never seen her smiling so freely…

7 – Poison – Alice Cooper

All the tension that had been building up while they were in the Western Air Temple had to be released some time ( _sexual_ _tension, to be more specific_, said Toph, whenever she got the chance). After all, it was simply not on the Fire Prince's nature to endure verbal abuse and mean jokes for long…

So they fought.

Fire like water, just like old times, steam rising in the air as their elements crashed, burning, freezing and hurting until they were too tired to get into a fighting stance.

At first, the group was worried – they were both powerful benders, and could get seriously hurt in the process – but as the days passed, it became almost routine. They would bicker, argue, and they were into fighting stances, eyes gleaming with something that wasn't just hatred…

Strangely enough, they only were at peace with each other when they were fighting.

8- The Scientist – Coldplay

When it was all over, they should be happy – balance was restored, the Fire Lord was dead and the was that had been going on for a hundred years had finally come to an end…

But how could he be happy, when he had to kill all his family and burn down his own childhood home?

But how could she be happy, when hundreds had died because of her blood dirty hands?

As everyone celebrated, they were the ones who stood behind: The traitor and the bloodbender, the new Firelord and the peasant, Zuko and Katara.

More than ever, they understood each other.

9- Desert Rose – Sting

He wanted to loathe her, he really did. He hated the way she mistreated him after he had proved again and again how he had changed, he hated how she always threw Ba Sing-Se at his face whenever she could, and try her hardest to make sure he felt that he wasn't welcome in this group…

So why couldn't he stop dreaming about her?

He would dream of her soft hands touching his scar at the crystal caves, of the way her body moved when she was bending, of the way her eyes glistened in the moonlight at the North Pole when she had beat him. And sometimes, the images in his dreams wouldn't be real – dreams where she came to his room at night and kissed him, when he could feel, and not only see, the graceful movements of her body, where her whispered words were not of hatred…

In those nights, he would wake up having put fire in his own bed, and hate her even more.

10 – The Fire – Papa Roach

In Aang's opinion, the increasingly common fights of Zuko and Katara were starting to get dangerous: if the risk of harming the Avatar's Master Waterbender and Master Firebender wasn't enough, they could attract attention if they stood fighting above in the field with those gigantic waves of water, bursts of fire and other "big impressive magic stuff", as Sokka liked to put it.

So, when both of them decided to go "take their problems upstairs", everyone knew better than to follow them and risk being burned, frozen or even both at the same time. The only thing that the Gaang knew about those fights were the occasional bursts of fire or whips of water that fell over the cliff, and the fact that both of them came home panting, with hair and clothes in a complete mess.

Sokka, on the other hand, thought it was for the best that they were out of harm's way when they fought…

This was, until Toph told them what they really did up in the fields when they were "fighting".

**A/N: Soo… How did it go? Did you like it? Hate it? Press that little purple button below and tell me! ''**


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